An Officer and a Spy

I unlock my door and invite him in. The office has the cold, stale feel of a room that has not been used for several days. He takes a seat. The spindly wooden legs creak under his weight.

‘So,’ he says, lighting a cigarette, ‘I hear you’ve been busy while I’ve been away.’

‘You’ve spoken to Lauth?’ Of course, I might have guessed Lauth would have told him: those two are very thick together.

‘Yes, he’s filled me in. May I see the new material?’

I feel a certain irritation as I unlock my safe and hand him the file. I say, conscious of sounding petty, ‘I had assumed I would be the one to brief you first.’

‘Does it matter?’

‘Only to the extent that I asked Lauth not to mention it to anyone.’

Henry, with his cigarette clamped between his lips, puts on his spectacles, and holds up the two documents. He squints at them through the smoke. ‘Well,’ he mutters, ‘perhaps he doesn’t regard me as just “anyone”.’ The cigarette wobbles as he speaks, showering ash into his lap.

‘Nobody is suggesting you are.’

‘Have you done anything about this yet?’

‘I haven’t told anyone in the rue Saint-Dominique, if that’s what you mean.’

‘That’s probably wise. They will only start flapping.’

‘I agree. I want us to make our own enquiries first. I’ve already been to Rouen-’

He peers at me over the top of his spectacles. ‘You’ve been to Rouen?’

‘Yes, there’s a major in the Seven-Four — Esterhazy’s regiment — who’s an old friend of mine. He was able to give me some personal information.’

Henry resumes reading. ‘And might I ask what this old friend told you?’

‘He said that Esterhazy is in the habit of asking a lot of suspicious questions. That he’s even paid for himself to go on artillery exercises, and had the firing manuals copied afterwards. Also that he’s desperate for money and isn’t a man of good character.’

‘Really?’ Henry turns the petit bleu over to examine the address. ‘He seemed fine when he worked here.’

I have to give him credit for the aplomb with which he delivers this bombshell. For a moment or two I simply stare at him. ‘Lauth never mentioned that Esterhazy was employed here.’

‘That’s because he didn’t know.’ Henry sets the documents down on my desk and takes off his spectacles. ‘It was long before Lauth’s time. I’d only just been posted here myself.’

‘When was this?’

‘Must be fifteen years ago.’

‘So you know Esterhazy?’

‘I did once, yes — slightly. He wasn’t here long — he worked as a German translator. But I haven’t seen him for years.’

I sit back in my chair. ‘This raises the matter to a whole new level.’

‘Does it?’ Henry shrugs. ‘I’m not sure I follow. Why?’

‘You seem to be taking this very calmly, Major!’ There is something mocking about Henry’s studied indifference; I can feel my anger rising. ‘Obviously it’s more serious if Esterhazy has received some training in our intelligence techniques.’

Henry smiles and shakes his head. ‘If I may offer you some advice, Colonel, I wouldn’t get too dramatic about it. It doesn’t matter how many gunnery courses he’s been on. I don’t see how Esterhazy can have had access to anything important, stuck out in Rouen. And in fact that letter from Schwartzkoppen tells us plainly that he didn’t, because the Germans are threatening to break off relations with him. They wouldn’t do that if they thought they had a valuable spy.

‘It’s always an easy mistake to make,’ continues Henry, ‘if you’re new to this game, to think that the first dodgy fellow you come across is a master spy. It’s seldom the case. In fact you can end up doing a lot more damage by overreacting than the so-called traitor has caused in the first place.’

‘You are not suggesting, I hope,’ I reply stiffly, ‘that we just leave him to carry on supplying information to a foreign power, even if it may be of little value?’

‘Not at all! I agree absolutely we should keep an eye on him. I just think we should keep it in proportion. Why don’t I ask Guénée to start sniffing around, see what he can find out?’

‘No, I don’t want Guénée handling this.’ Guénée is another member of Henry’s gang. ‘I want to use someone else for a change.’

‘As you wish,’ says Henry. ‘Tell me who you’d like and I’ll assign him.’

‘No, actually, thank you for the offer, but I’ll assign him.’ I smile at Henry. ‘The extra experience will do me good. Please. .’ I indicate the door. ‘And again: welcome back. Would you mind telling Gribelin to come down and see me?’